Corrugated board is typically cut by a cutting die including a die board having one or more cutting rules secured thereon and some means to eject cut corrugated board from the die board after cutting. Typically, it has been common to mount a relatively hard block shaped rubber ejector at certain points along the cutting rule for the purpose of ejecting cut corrugated board. In the cutting and ejection process, the cutting die and an opposed support or anvil are moved together, causing the cutting rules to cut the sandwiched corrugated board. During this process, the block shaped rubber ejectors are compressed as they partly lie above the surface of the cutting rules. Once the corrugated board has been cut, the cutting die is separated from the opposed support or anvil and in this process the hard block shaped rubber ejectors expand to their original shape. As the ejectors expand and move back past the cutting edge of the cutting rules, they eject or push the cut corrugated product from the cutting die.
There are a number of drawbacks and disadvantages to these hard block shaped rubber ejectors. First and most importantly, because of the hardness and overall design of the ejectors, they tend to crush certain flutes of the cut corrugated product during the cutting operation. Since the cut corrugated board is to be utilized to form corrugated boxes and interpack panels, the crushing of the flutes seriously effects and reduces the compression strength of the resulting corrugated container or interpack panel. Consequently, the stacking strength of a box or interpack panel is seriously impaired. Besides actually reducing the structural strength of the corrugated board, the crushing of flutes results in damage to the appearance and aesthetics of the cut corrugated board.
In addition, because of the hardness and overall design of these block shaped rubber ejectors, a relatively large force or tonnage is required to operate cutting dies containing such ejectors.
Finally, because of the nature of the hard block shaped rubber ejectors and the difficulty of properly mounting and adjusting the same on the die board, it is well-known and appreciated that the make-ready or setup time for cutting dies having these rubber ejectors mounted thereon is substantial. This obviously cuts into production time and in the end results in substantial costs.